The turtle waited by the side of the highway. The traffic zipped past, not slowing down. His friend, the rabbit, raced up and stopped beside him. “What’s going on?” “I’m waiting for a break in the cars so I can get across.” The rabbit looked up and down

The cat showed up on Tuesday. Hazel looked out on her deck and saw the orange cat with a white stripe on its chest sitting by her flower bed on the balcony. “How the dickens did you get there?” she asked as she stepped outside. She was on the seventh

It was 3:59 a.m. and he sat by the computer in the living room. Somewhere above him, his daughter was rocketing from Earth on a five-year mission. Every two weeks, he’d be relayed an encrypted message from mission control. Since they were so far away, it was

The wind howled, and the sea slammed hard against the keep. Rain poured through the roof, and water ran down the stairs and walls. Although Bernia was certain the stones would be ripped from their mortar and the building would topple down upon her, she held her post. She’d

After his father’s funeral, Steven was surrounded by friend’s and family, and suddenly couldn’t breathe. He grabbed the key to his dad’s truck and left. Although he hadn’t acknowledged, he knew exactly where he was going. He drove east out of town, until he reached

Mike was reading comic books when the sky lit up outside. He shot of bed and the yard looked like it was midday despite being past midnight. A blazing fireball plummeted somewhere behind the trees past the granaries. The next morning, before the rest of the house was awake, he

With the curfew close, hardly any people were on the streets. Taxis were no longer running and the cleaners had started their nightly sanitizing. A soldier at the end of a street bar, watched the machines trundle past. Their flashing lights reflected off his medals, that he wore on special

Paul had done all the calculations. He knew the math had checked out. He powered up his machine, holding the kill switch in his hand. “I’‘d turn that off if I were you,” a voice called out. Paul turned quickly to see an old man, dressed in a crimson

Tom sat in the backyard by the fire, watching the flames, when Donnie stepped out. He brought two beers and handed one to his husband before taking a seat beside him. “They’re both down?” Tom asked. “Yup, they crashed as soon as their heads hit the pillow.” “It was

On the ferry ride back from the beach, she heard two boys talking about a jellyfish so small that it could fit into your ear canal. They shared outlandish stories from friends of friends who had this happen, and it slipped inside and stung their brain. Of course, this was

Laura woke ten minutes before her alarm went off. She lay there, considering whether she should try to fall asleep again, but the to-do list of her manager job at the coffee shop was piling up, and she forced herself out of bed. She didn’t dawdle and readied herself

The underwater cavern had been discovered by two divers off the coast of Naxos ten years ago. All accounts by the locals indicated that it hadn’t existed before this point. The prevailing theory is that a recent tremor had shifted a rock that had obscured its entrance. What was

Thomas had stayed concealed from the enemy for the past three months in a small  hideaway under the concrete slabs of a fallen building. It was dry and warm and the soldiers never found him. At nights, he’d sneak out to set explosive traps, and search for food and

Sophie and Zella lay side-by-side on the hill, hands intertwined, the broken moon high above. Across the valley, in the darkness, the lights of the château cut through the trees. Below them, a thin trail of bioluminescent fish swam along a line down the small river. Sophie’s eyes were

Paul pulled his yellow rain jacket tight as the heavy deluge poured down onto the narrow street. He tucked himself tight under the eave of the outdoor café, hunched over the counter, and kept himself warm over a bowl of savoury pork noodles. “This seat taken?” someone asked, but Paul

Eddie walked along the path toward the point. The teenager had her father’s fishing rod and a small tackle box of spoons for trout. The sun was barely above the pines and air was still cool, but it wouldn’t last long. She’d maybe get an hour before

Billy raced his bike down the prairie road, the sun hot on his back, the air crackling around him. Above him, a bi-plane swept over the rolling fields, swirling and twirling figure eights like a dancer. The pilot had come to town the previous week to offer his spraying services

Katherine found the note on her windshield when she went for work in the morning. Thanks for moving your car. Not ☹️Although the road was slick from the rain, she could see the path where the street cleaner had moved around her vehicle, leaving a layer of dirt and leaves

The mud puddle had appeared by the crab apple orchard in the morning, right before the farmer had gone to church. By the time he’d returned, it was nearly twenty feet wide and some of his trees had been pulled below. He didn’t dare get too close to